WildBrain Announces Agreement to Acquire House of Cool
WildBrain has signed an agreement to acquire House of Cool, one of the top preproduction companies in the animation industry. A strategic extension of WildBrain’s focus on creative excellence, the acquisition expands and enhances the company’s preproduction capabilities for premium animated series, specials and features.
Under the agreement, WildBrain will acquire full ownership of House of Cool with Wes Lui and Ricardo Curtis, executives and co-founders, House of Cool, joining the WildBrain Studios senior management team in the newly created roles of co-general managers, House of Cool. The pair will report to Josh Scherba, president, WildBrain, who heads up the company’s content and studio business.
“This acquisition is an investment in creative excellence,” says Scherba. “House of Cool is recognized as one of the very best preproduction companies in the global animation industry. We’re delighted to welcome Wes, Ricardo and their team on board at WildBrain, a combination of talent that
will immediately broaden and deepen our collective creative strengths. Their expertise is highly complementary to our existing business, expanding and enhancing our preproduction capabilities, not only for WildBrain’s proprietary content but also for third-party projects. The acquisition also establishes a new entry point for IP owners to engage with WildBrain’s 360-degree offering across production, distribution and consumer products licensing.”
“House of Cool’s mission is simple: bring audiences together through the artful telling of unique stories,” says Lui. “WildBrain shares our enthusiasm for storytelling, and from the moment they first approached us, we were ecstatic about combining forces and leveraging their 360-degree approach and our expertise in story and preproduction to develop, produce and distribute premium content. We will also further be able to offer more top-level creative services for all our clients.”
“As a fiercely independent operator for the last two decades, it would require something special for House of Cool to join another studio,” says Curtis. “WildBrain is that special. WildBrain has industry-leading expertise in production, distribution and licensing, and its reach on multiple platforms greatly expands our ability and scope to connect with audiences. Mixed with their deep catalog of properties – many I grew up with – hitching House of Cool’s wagon to WildBrain allows us to collaborate in previously unavailable ways on the premium content we are known for.”
Collaborating with WildBrain’s animation studio in Vancouver, House of Cool will maintain operations at its Toronto facility, where its preproduction team will be joining the company.